Tag: BYD

  • Chinese EV giant BYD to begin Vietnam sales in May

    Chinese EV giant BYD to begin Vietnam sales in May

    The world’s biggest electric vehicle maker, China’s BYD, will set up shop in Hanoi in May.

    It would sell its first cars in the sedan and SUV segments, sources familiar with the matter said.

    Its SUV BYD Atto 3 is among the most sought-after cars globally. It has large demand in Sweden and is the best-selling EV in Thailand.

    It has a 60.48-kilowatt-hour battery that allows travel of up to 480 kilometers.

    Its prices start from US$30,750 in Thailand.

    In Vietnam, BYD cars will be imported as complete units from China.

    The company is building a $504-million plant in Thailand, its biggest market outside China, and expects to start production there this year.

    In future BYD cars can be imported to Vietnam from Thailand to enjoy the zero import tax applicable to Southeast Asian countries.

    BYD, established in 2003, sold 1.62 million electric cars last year, second globally behind Tesla with 1.8 million units, though in the last quarter it outpaced past the U.S. company 526,000 to 484,000.

    Ninety percent of its sales were in China.

  • Apple’s Talks With Chinese Battery Makers CATL And BYD

    Apple’s Talks With Chinese Battery Makers CATL And BYD

    Apple Inc’s talks with China’s CATL and BYD over battery supplies for its planned electric vehicle have been mostly stalled after they refused to set up teams and build U.S. plants that would solely cater to the tech giant, three people with knowledge of the discussions said.

    The firms informed Apple sometime in the past two months that they were not able to meet its requirements, the people said. But the U.S. company has not given up hope of resuming talks with either CATL or BYD, according to one source.

    Chinese battery makers are more advanced than rivals in the development of lithium iron phosphate (LFP) batteries which are cheaper to produce and sources have previously said Apple favors this battery technology.

    CATL, the world’s No.1 maker of batteries for EVs, has been reluctant to build a U.S. factory due to political tensions between Washington and Beijing as well as cost concerns, said one of the people with direct knowledge of the talks.

    The Chinese firm has also found it impossible to set up a separate product development team exclusively working with Apple due to difficulties in finding sufficient personnel, the person added.

    BYD, which has an iron-phosphate battery plant in Lancaster, California, declined to build a new factory and team that would solely focus on supplying Apple, said two of the sources.

    The stalled discussions have meant that Apple has been considering Japanese battery makers and it sent a group of people to Japan this month, they added.

    Panasonic Corp is one of the companies that Apple is considering, said one of the people.

    The sources declined to be identified as the talks were confidential. Apple, BYD and Panasonic declined to comment.

    CATL said in a statement to Reuters that it denied “the relevant information”.

    “We are evaluating the opportunity and possibility of manufacture localization in North America,” the statement said, adding that it has a dedicated professional team exclusively for each customer.

    Sources said last year Apple was aiming to launch an electric car by 2024. Apple has not publicly disclosed its plans. The stall in discussions comes at a time when U.S. President Joe Biden is seeking to make the United States a powerhouse in electric cars, setting a goal of having half of all new vehicles sold in 2030 electric.

    Any delays in securing battery supplies could further impede EV development for Apple which last month lost the head of its car project, Doug Field, after he decided to return to Ford Motor Co.

    Tesla Inc, which has been making some of its Model 3 and Model Y cars in China with LFP batteries from CATL, said this week it intended to use that battery chemistry outside China as well.

    CATL and BYD use a type of battery pack technology to improve the performance of LFP batteries. Without that, LFP batteries usually offer much shorter driving ranges and lower energy density than the more expensive lithium batteries that use cobalt and nickel.

  • BYD Rolls Out 1 Millionth Electric Passenger Car In China

    BYD Rolls Out 1 Millionth Electric Passenger Car In China

    Chinese automaker BYD is celebrating the rollout of its one-millionth electric passenger car, becoming the first automaker globally to do so. The one-millionth car is the Han EV that rolled off the production line at BYD’s headquarters and manufacturing facility in Shenzhen, in China. The occasion marked the presence of officials from the Chinese government, industry heads, media guests, and about 100 BYD vehicle owners. With no Covid cases reported, China is able to host public events.

    Speaking about the rollout, Wang Chuanfu, Chairman and President of BYD Co., Ltd. said, “BYD shoulders the responsibility and mission of upward development for China’s new energy vehicle brands. From zero to one million vehicles, this is BYD’s response to the call for global auto industry transformation. It also sets a benchmark in the journey of the new energy vehicle industry in China starting from nothing, alongside the greater national journey for a country dominated by traditional automobiles to one that is a leader in the field of sustainability.”

    He added, “The journey to one million vehicles would not be possible without the support of car owners every step of the way, and BYD recognizes that the ‘green dream’ can only be achieved hand-in-hand with all our customers.”

    Beginning operations in China in 2003, BYD’s new energy vehicle (NEV) journey commenced in 2004 with the ET electric concept car at the Beijing Auto Show. This was followed up with the F3DM – the world’s first mass-produced plug-in hybrid NEV model unveiled in 2008. The BYD Han was launched in 2020 and the automaker says it’s a top-selling model in China, competing with the German luxury sedans.

    Rolf Petter Almklov, Commercial Counsellor, Royal Norwegian Embassy in Beijing, and Wang Chuanfu, Chairman & President – BYD at the rollout ceremony

    BYD says the one million EV production milestone coincides with the first batch of 100 fully-electric BYD Tang SUVs being readied for Norway. The Scandinavian country will be at the center of the automaker’s ambitious plans for the European market, it says. A total of 1500 Tang SUVs will be delivered to Norway before the end of the year as part of BYD’s European and global strategy. The first batch will be delivered to customers in Norway in the third quarter of the year.

    The BYD Tang SUV promises a range of 505 km (NEDC) and can sprint from 0-100 kmph in 4.6 seconds. The battery capacity stands at 86.4 kWh. BYD will be bringing only electric cars to the European market and the company already retails its electric bus product range in Europe.

  • China’s BYD plans to sell passenger cars in U.S. in 2-3 years

    China’s BYD plans to sell passenger cars in U.S. in 2-3 years

    BYD plans to sell electric passenger cars in the United States in about two to three years, an executive said on Thursday, as it races to be the first Chinese automaker to sell cars to American drivers.

    BYD, backed by Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway, specializes in electric and plug-in petrol-electric hybrid vehicles. At present, its U.S. presence is limited to producing buses and selling fleet vehicles such as taxis.

    Li Yunfei, BYD’s deputy general manager for branding and public relations, said its passenger car plan was not fixed as entering the U.S. was a complicated process.

    “It could be adjusted,” Li said at an event in Beijing. “Now we can only say roughly 2 to 3 years.”

    China’s government has used a raft of policies, including billions of dollars in subsidies, to spur a boom in electric and plug-in hybrid sales since 2015. The U.S., meanwhile, has lagged.

    BYD has had false starts in the U.S., with Chairman Wang Chuanfu previously saying the automaker would begin selling in the U.S. in 2010. Other Chinese peers have also encountered delays in entering the market.

    GAC Motor, a subsidiary of Guangzhou Automobile Group, displayed three models at the Detroit Auto Show earlier this month, stating it would enter the U.S. by 2019 instead of a previous goal of 2017.

    A GAC Motor spokeswoman declined to elaborate on the delay.

  • Chinese automaker BYD forecasts up to 84 percent profit rise for 2016

    Chinese automaker BYD forecasts up to 84 percent profit rise for 2016

    Chinese automaker BYD Co Ltd, backed by Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway, on Sunday said 2016 full-year profit was likely to rise as much as 84.17 percent, as rapid growth of the green car market eases.

    The Shenzhen-based manufacturer, which has invested heavily in making electric and hybrid petrol-electric vehicles, forecast a 77.09 percent to 84.17 percent increase in net profit for the year, at 5.0 billion yuan ($737.90 million) to 5.2 billion yuan.

    For the first nine months of 2016, BYD reported 3.66 billion yuan in profit, an 86.82 percent increase year-on-year. That compared with the automaker’s forecast in August of 83 percent to 91 percent for the period.

    BYD reported triple-digit profit growth for the previous four quarters. But its earnings expansion in the first nine months of 2016 slipped below 100 percent as the overall market for green-energy vehicles moderates after government support helped it quadruple last year.

    Overall sales of electric and plug-in hybrids in China totaled 289,000 vehicles in January-September, according to China’s automakers association, far from its target of 700,000 vehicles for 2016. An association official said Friday that sales were now likely to miss that target.

    Analysts said China may struggle to meet that target following the revelation that dozens of companies had been cheating the subsidy system.